Pontifical Academy for Life

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The Third International Congress on Responsible Stem Cell Research was held in Padua, Italy, on November 16-18, 2016.

Ciucci Andrea
2016-11-23

The Congress was sponsored by the
Pontifical Academy for Life and the Pediatric Clinic in the Department of
Women’s and Children’s Health at the University of Padua, Italy. It was
organized under the leadership of Professor Katarina Le Blanc of the Karolinska
University Hospital in Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden, and Professors Giorgio
Perilongo, and Maurizio Muraca of the Department of Women’s and Children’s
Health at the University of Padua. Special support was provided by the Fondation
Jérôme Lejeune, of Paris, and the Comité Consultatif d'Éthique en Matière de
Recherche Biomédicale of the Principality of Monaco

There
were more than 150 participants, coming from all over the world, and 42
different presentations were delivered.

The
Congress opened with a video presentation from Japan by the 2012 Nobel Laureate
in Medicine, Professor Shinya Yamanaka, famous for his breakthrough research
into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPCS). He reported on the findings of work
carried out by four hundred experts at the University of Kyoto to broaden the
possibilities for the use of stem cells, increasing their therapeutic
effectiveness and solving the various difficulties connected with their use,
such as timing, costs and actual results. Professor Yamanaka’s program has been
structured to be implemented over a period of twenty years,

After
that presentation, the Congress analyzed the development of therapeutic uses
for stem cells, which has become common at the tissue level but is still
problematic with respect to organs. The analysis reflected a number of
different points of view, particularly with respect to the possibility of
taking up and replicating certain molecular potentialities of stem cells. They
have recently been shown to be capable, by releasing certain substances, of
inducing the regeneration of parts of damaged organs, notwithstanding the death
of cells themselves.

Monsignor
Renzo Pegoraro, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Life and Moderator of
one of the Sessions, commented on the work of the Congress: “The
Congress has made it possible to present and discuss, in a very professional
way, the state of research and clinical art in the use of stem cells in a calm
and fruitful dialogue among science, medicine and ethics. This all took place with common sense,
accepting the difficulties that still exist but at the same time recognizing
the tireless efforts and the support of so many researchers and practitioners,”

The
last session of the Congress was open to the public and was addressed by the
President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia. His
presence reflected the desire of the Congress to give explicit consideration to
the social and ethical aspects of therapeutic practice in this area, considering
not only the governmental regulations, the role of the media, and economic
concerns, but also the Church’s vision of the dignity of human life in the
border areas of medical and scientific research and practice.